The 2004 Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning and The Lightning Foundation will award nine financial grants May 31st at a reception to be held in the XO Club at the St. Pete Times Forum at 5:30 p.m. Although the organization has given away hundreds of thousands of dollars each of the past several years to many charities, the 2006 calendar year marks the beginning of the Foundation's Community Grant Awards program.

"We are pleased to be able to introduce the Lightning Foundation Community Grant Program," said Ron Campbell, President of the Lightning and the St. Pete Times Forum. "The organization views its role as a community partner and leader very seriously and we will continue to look for new ways to support all that is good in Tampa Bay through the Lightning Foundation and its resources."

Each grant applicant was asked to detail its organization, its proposed program or project and how the respective project matches under the Lightning Foundation's funding guidelines. Applications were fully reviewed and evaluated by the foundation's board of directors before grant award recipients were selected.

The Lightning Foundation, the non-profit charity arm of the Tampa Bay Lightning, is dedicated to the support of local organizations that enrich and enhance the lives of those living throughout the Tampa Bay community, focusing its unique resources to advance amateur hockey and educational enrichment opportunities for children and families, along with medical research and treatment for those in need, while making Tampa Bay a better place to live, work and play.